sourdough crescent rolls

You find me typing with the Smallest Short Person asleep on my chest.  It reminds me of doing differential equation homework with his momma on my chest.  Different but very much the same.  It is a nice same.

I have been told recently that I need to make Danica Soup.  It is a simple beef soup that I realized I have not written the recipe down for.  It is on the list!  (sigh, does anyone else have the issue of forgetting what they wish to write about?)  When the Tall Short Person was small, I used to serve her Danica Soup and croissants.  They were just frozen croissants that I baked.  I did not wish to do that anymore and I have not been very happy with croissant recipes.  I tweaked a crescent recipe by crossing it with a Parker House roll recipe and using a sourdough starter as the yeast.  I was told "you have to make these for ME more often" by the Tall Short Person.  That got a laugh!

Crescent Rolls

Sourdough starter

1 cup flour

3/4 cup water

1 cup hempmilk

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 egg

1 teaspoon salt

4 1/2 to 5 1/2 cups flour

1/4 cup butter, softened

Eight hours or the night before, refresh you starter with the 1 cup flour and 3/4 cup water in a large bowl.  Let it sit until very bubbly.

Once bubbly, remove about two tablespoons of the starter and put it in the refrigerator for next time.  To the starter left in the bowl, add the hempmilk, sugar, 1/2 cup butter, and egg.  Mix well.  Mix in the salt.  Mix in enough flour to make a very stiff dough.  Turn out on a floured surface and knead until smooth.  Cover and let rise until double.

When double, divide into halves, thirds, or fourths.  This will control the size of your rolls.  The more divisions, the smaller the roll size.  Take one of the portions and roll out into a circle.  Spread with softened butter. Cut into 8 triangles.  Roll up from the long end to the point.

Put on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper or a silpat.  Do this with the rest of the dough.   Let rise for about an hour, covered.

Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.

This are very good with Danica Soup.  And they keep disappearing out of my kitchen so I know they are very good by themselves.  I thought I might have one with me tea for breakfast but it is not looking that way.  It is a good thing for full bellies tonight.

dessert with the chowder: pudding chômeur

When I made the chowder last week, I tried a new dessert.  Most of the food blogs that I read come up with cookbook recommendations, especially towards the end of the year.  One of them was Food 52 Cookbook.  I found it impressive because it is a compilation from so many cooks.  Then I found the Food 52 site.  I think this could be a very bad place for me, if nothing else for ideas.

That is how I felt about pudding chomeur.  I have to admit that I read the description, skimmed over the ingredients, and then tried my own version.  I used my sourdough biscuits and and brown sugar and cream mixture.  I made six ramekins the first night.  There was one left the next morning.  I do believe it was a hit.

Pudding Chomeur

1/4  recipe sourdough biscuits

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup heavy cream

Mix up the sourdough biscuits following the directions in my recipe.  Put no more then two tablespoons of dough in a oven proof ramekin.  1/4 recipe should fill eight.  If you wish, you can put all the dough in a thin layer over the bottom of a casserole with at least two inch sides.  Cover and put in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours or overnight.  You can do this 24 hours ahead.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

Remove the biscuits from the refrigerator and uncover.

In a large saucepan, put the cream and sugar.  Bring to a boil.  Pour the mixture over the biscuit dough, leaving at least a 1/4 inch clearance from the top of the ramekin.  Place on a baking sheet and put in the oven. 

Bake until bubbly and lightly brown, 20 to 25 minutes.

I actually overfilled the ramekins with dough, so I had a bit of a mess to clean up and not as much sauce with the puddings.  But these were lovely!

I will make them again.  I think they would be good with a bit of orange added to them.

according to my Beloved, smoked salmon chowder is happiness!

One of my aunts gives a party on Christmas Eve every year which is clam chowder and desserts.  I have gotten into the habit of making chowder on Chrismtas Eve because it is easy and it can feed multitudes.  But this year, we were camping and I made enchiladas.  

I have been missing the chowder.  I decided to make a smoked salmon chowder.  As the title of this post says, my Beloved was singing that smoked salmon chowder is happiness.  Yes, singing.  It is random Beloved radio.  He gets the leftovers for lunch or when he "cooks."  He reheats well.

This is very tasty.  I used a very Pacific Northwest smoked salmon.  Smoked salmon from that region is called squaw candy because it is oily and sweet.  It works with a Scottish smoked salmon but I like the stronger flavor here.  It is all to your taste though.

Smoked Salmon Chowder

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 onion, minced

2 cloves garlic minced

8 yellow potatoes, chopped

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

6 to 8 cups water (less water, more like a stew instead of a soup)

1/4 pound smoked salmon

2 tablespoons heavy cream

In a soup pot, over medium high heat, add the oil and heat.  Add the onions and cook until starting to turn golden.  Add the garlic.  I am usually cutting potatoes here and add them as I go while the garlic is browning.  

Add the water until everything is covered.  Mix in the salt and pepper.

Break up the salmon into bite size pieces and put in the pot.  Bring the contents to a boil, turn down to a simmer.  Cook until the potatoes are done.

Turn off the heat.  Let the bubbling stop and mix in the cream.

Put in bowls and get away from the rushing hoards.  

That has a tendency to happen in my house.  Even when it is only two that are rushing the soup pot.  I do get to hold the Smallest Short Person during this process though so it is not all bad.

bara brith

Do you ever get text messages at work going:  "We had breakfast.  We need bread."  This is pretty normal in my life.  I actually have two loaves of bread rising as I type.  I will bake them in the morning.

Bara Brith is a raisin bread that I found in a Better Homes and Garden cooking magazine from December 1985.  There are a couple recipes I like from it and my copy is old and tattered.  Bara brith was part of their tea article.  It has become a standard in our home.  I especially like it for breakfast.  I have taken to making it with sourdough and using a wet sponge method so my directions are very different.

Bara Brith

Sourdough starter

1 cup flour

3/4 cup water

2/3 cup buttermilk, soured heavy cream, or soured hempmilk

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup butter

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

2/3 cup dried currants, blueberries, or raisins

3 to 5 cups all purpose flour (this is dependent on how much moisture the dried fruit absorbs)

Eight hours before or the night before, put the sourdough starter in a large bowl.  Mix in 1 cup flour and 3/4 cup water.  Cover with a cloth.  The next morning, remove a couple tablespoons so you will have starter for next time and put in the frig.

Into the starter that is in the large bowl, mix in the buttermilk, sugar, butter, egg, spices and salt.  Add the raisins and 1 cup flour.  Cover with a cloth.  Let sit until bubbly and doubled.  It will look like pancake batter.

Stir in enough extra flour to make a stiff dough.  Turn out onto a clean floured surface, and knead until smooth.  This starts out sticky so it may need up to 3/4 cup more flour or even more if it is humid.  Put back in the bowl, cover and let rise until double in size.

Punch down and let rise until double again.

Grease a loaf pan.  Shape the bread into a loaf shape and place in the pan.  Let rise 45 minutes to an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Bake 1 hour, until golden and sounds hollow when the bottom is thunked.

Try to let it cool before slicing.  It mushes a bit if you do not.  Obviously, we always cut it straight out of the oven. 

chocolate cinnamon pine nut cookies

I think I mentioned before that I read food blogs.  They inspire me.  There are a few I read more for their photography and just ideas instead of recipes.  Lucullian Delights is one of those.  I read her blog because I love her photos.  But this Christmas she came up with a chocolate cinnamon pine nut cookie that sounded absolutely fabulous.  Because of my Beloved, I needed to make it gluten free so I did.  

These cookies are addictive!  You have to wait to let them cool before taking them off the cookie sheet or they will fall apart but that did not stop us.  It was one of those:  STEP AWAY FROM THE COOKIES!  If I can figure out how to ship them, they just may be in Christmas cookie boxes next year.

Chocolate Cinnamon Pine Nut Cookies

5 ounces butter

150 grams brown sugar

40 grams/ 4 tablespoons cocoa

10 grams ground chia seeds

1 teaspoon cinnamon

50 grams almond flour

50 grams millet flour

50 grams sorghum flour

50 grams arrowroot flour

40 grams pine nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Cover you baking sheets with parcharment paper.

Cream sugar and butter together.  Mix in cocoa, cinnamon, and chia.  Mix in the flours.

Mix in pine nuts.

Scoop small teaspoons on the baking sheet.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Remove from the oven.  Let cool ten or minutes before removing from the baking sheet .

Addictive I say!  We had a filling dinner of pasta and salad and myself and my Beloved ate four each!